MUMBAI/BENGALURU, Oct 31 (Reuters) - Bharti Airtel Ltd said on Tuesday it had been approached by global investors interested in a controlling stake in its mobile masts unit Bharti Infratel Ltd.

India’s largest phone carrier also reported its smallest quarterly profit in nearly five years, hurt by a price war.

The news of the approach from unidentified investors comes a day after Bharti Infratel said it was considering buying the rest of Indus Towers, the biggest mobile mast operator in India.

Indian media have reported a consortium led by private equity firm KKR & Co LP is eyeing both Bharti Infratel and Indus Towers.

Indus Towers, which runs nearly 123,000 towers, is owned 42 percent each by Bharti Infratel and Vodafone’s Indian unit. Third-ranked mobile carrier Idea Cellular along with its associate owns the remainder.

“Airtel has been approached by a few reputed global investors to acquire a significant stake in Bharti Infratel which, if accepted, could result in such investors acquiring control of Bharti Infratel,” Bharti Airtel said in a statement.

It added a panel of its directors recommended the proposal be considered, but said discussions had not started and there was no certainty of a deal.

Bharti Airtel, like its peers, has been struggling amid a price war in the world’s No.2 mobile phone market triggered by the market entry late last year of Jio, Reliance Industries’ telecoms venture which is backed by India’s richest man Mukesh Ambani.

The sector faces further pressure after India’s telecoms regulator this month cut the fee operators pay each other for calls made from one network to another.

Bharti Airtel’s Indian Chief Executive Gopal Vittal on Tuesday warned the financial stress in the sector would be “further accentuated” by the cut in interconnection fees, which benefited established players.

Net profit fell 77 percent from a year earlier to 3.43 billion rupees ($53 million) in its second quarter to September, Bharti Airtel said, which was its smallest profit since the quarter to December 2012 but still better than analysts’ estimate of 3.03 billion rupees.

Revenue in the quarter fell 11.7 percent from a year earlier to 217.77 billion rupees, said Bharti Airtel, which operates in 17 countries across Asia and Africa.